The Dumb Ones
by Erin-Starlight
Summary: Cordelia has always fallen for a certain type. CX, CW, CD, CA and CG


Title: The Dumb Ones  
Fandom: ATS  
Pairings: Mentions of Cordelia/Xander, Cordelia/Wesley, Cordelia/Doyle, Cordelia/Angel and Cordelia/Groo

Rating: PG  
Summary: Cordelia Chase has always fallen for a type of guy.

Cordelia Chase had a type of guy that she was attracted to, yeah the handsome jocks at Sunnydale were great but they were not the ones she fell for. She would have liked to have said it was the heroic type, it certainly would have been less embarrassing, the truth was that she fell for the dumb ones. Yeah they all had their moments but when it came down to it none of them were very bright.

First there was Xander Harris, a relationship that started on hormones, mutual annoyance and grudging respect. She's not certain now that if it would have gone further than groping in secret if Willow hadn't found them. Back then she told herself that she had all the power in the relationship which made up for dating a loser. Harmony didn't see it that way and Cordelia for the first time stood up to the pack. It was liberating as it was frightening, something she knew that she would have never done if not for dating Xander.

He was not her first boyfriend though he was he first love. Unlike the other boys who were mostly eye candy and status lifters she had fun. And maybe she was starting to warm up to the idea of being part of something important that was not popularity. She even was coming around to liking the Scoobies...until she found out that Xander still liked to grope in the dark. This time with Willow. To say that she was hurt was the understatement of the year.

She had given up so many things that had been ingrained into who she was only to be betrayed. Cordelia knew she should have never let her guard down like that, it never ended well. The rebar in her chest just drove that point home. Oz would forgive Willow that was a given. Could she forgive Xander? The more she thought about it the more sure Cordelia was that she couldn't. Not only was she being sneered at by her former friends but Harmony had been right about one point. She had given up a hell of a lot for Xander, had HE given her anything in return? Did he even love her?

Even if the answer was yes he certainly never showed it where it counted. A normal girlfriend should be considered first and as Cordelia Chase she damn well should have been first. Hell she wasn't even second. Buffy the freak and Willow the nerd would always rank higher than her. It wasn't fair or right. She deserved more than third spot. And if he couldn't even keep his hands off his best friend, the one he knew liked him before they started dating, then what did that say about his commitment? Xander Harris was limited in many ways: fashion victim, mouth runner, etc. He may have seen how others had screwed up, he would never see his own faults hence would never fix them. And she had better things to do than attempt to change him.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was dorky, prissy, and overbearing. Naturally Cordelia liked him. She recalled thinking he had pretty eyes and who didn't like a guy with an accent? Mostly, besides the fact that he was cute, she liked shoving it in Xander's face. Plus the fact that Wesley rubbed all of the loser squad the wrong way. Not to mention how much fun it was to get him all flustered. Why were the guys that got tongue tied cuter than the big flirts?

Of course Buffy and Faith loved to joke about it and the whole age thing. Faith didn't bother her much but Buffy? That pissed her off. Remarking that little miss-slay-happy had little room to judge with her 200 something boyfriend dating her Lolita ass did shut her up quick. At least Cordelia was eighteen and already had experience in heartache. Besides she never fooled herself into thinking she was serious about Wesley, he was too clumsy, and awkward to last long. After smoochy Harris the last thing Cordelia wanted was to get into another serious relationship. To leave herself that open up to get hurt. Luckily it didn't last as the attraction fizzled after the blotched kiss. Wes would make a great friend, he would never make a good lover for her.

Real life after Sunnydale made her see the harshness of things outside the safety of daddy's credit cards. Once she was a big star Cordelia wanted to have a boyfriend that had met her standards. He had to be rich, nicely dressed (which meant no tweed), good looking and did she mention rich? It seemed that she had to either raise her standards or lower them as the men she dated always lacked something where others with less to offer treated her better. The selected bunch were boring, cheap, and cowards who dumped her at the first sight of a demon.

Doyle had hated playing hero but he never let that stop him from diving into the madness to do the right thing. She had suspected that he had a crush on her for a while and as he had not met her list of requirements he hadn't been noticed. He was barely better than Xander at dressing himself, had a gambling problem, a drinking problem and had a habit of getting lost in drool inducing visions.

The guy had saved her when her date had bailed and proved that there was more to him. There was a slightly bumbling lovablity about him, he was cute, and hey a less prissy accent to boot. Just when she was going to ask him out guess who came back? Yep, a wife but she wanted a divorce which instantly warmed Cordelia to her. Which she knew she should feel bad about since Doyle would be upset and she would. Later.

Harry wasn't so bad and had revealed a whole another part of Doyle that Cordelia found interesting. More of a gentleman (which she had guessed with his often misplaced kind of assistance), he wanted to have kids, a teacher and apparently had been loyal to Harry. She learned about Doyle too late to do much good as he had kept his biggest secret from her until almost the end. He was half demon and hid it because he thought she'd have a problem with it. Please, like she was that shallow. Hello, she was working for a freaking vampire! Could he have been anymore dim? It would figure that once she found the potential Mr. Right that it would be over before it could ever begin. Now they never would have known if she could have learned to love both of his faces.

It was no secret that Cordelia had always had a thing for Angel. She hadn't gotten to know him that well in Sunnydale and had put it out of her mind once the great tragic romance he had with Buffy got full blown. She had never liked to see him with Buffy, it wasn't just jealousy either, Angel never seemed all that happy with the slayer. Oh Cordelia wouldn't deny that they were in love, she was sure that they were but in her opinion it wasn't a heathly love.

Neither of them seemed to realize who the other was and fell in love with the idea of who the other could be. (And they called her shallow.) Buffy never let herself see Angel as a vampire, not really, not until Angelus came into the picture. Yeah she'd defend him and her own actions, honesty the girl didn't believe them. It showed each time she distanced herself from her lover. The tension that never completely vanished with the lost of her innocence. The girl Angel had fallen for was that innocent girl, someone he could look after, the first good thing he had seen since his curse. He could never be completely open to her and it showed. Not that it wasn't without good reason as she could not see Buffy being nearly as blindly accepting as she was before. Everything was black and white for the slayer shades of grey didn't fit well in her world where she had to act as law.

Getting to know Angel in L.A. was a bit of a challenge at first. The Buffy depression and his nature broody nature were hard to overcome. He seemed puzzled by her refusal to give up, not that she was surprised as Buffy had hardly had time to devote to him with her busy life. Maybe the slayer didn't see how much of a problem it was to have Angel alone so much with only her as a connection to the world. She might have even liked the idea of have Angel all to herself. Cordelia didn't care she was not Buffy Summers and would not stand for it. The big guy never stood a chance as his resistance crumbled. He didn't know what to make of her at first. She knew that he liked her, just didn't understand her, he wasn't used to having so much attention on him. To having friends.

Losing Doyle and almost losing her and Wesley had made Angel hide less in the dark. Cordelia was thrilled with the man it revealed. He really should smile more, not the small calming ones he had in Sunnydale, but the full blown happy ones that lit his eyes. The man had actually started laughing around her. It was a sound she had never heard come from him before L.A. It made Cordelia wonder if anyone else had heard it in recent years. The selfish part of her hoped so while another part of her thought that it was kind of sad if he hadn't.

Being popular had been such a big part of her life, then being a star and being with Angel made her wish that she could be something more. She never got the hero thing with Buffy, with the Scoobies it was all about being the chosen one. You either were or you weren't. With Angel it was about your choices. About being a better person and making up for past sins. At least trying to do so. Slowly her vampire had gone from dark mysterious hero to a dork. The guy would make such childish retorts when his pride was hurt, pout, get awkward in social situations and had no idea how to connect with pop culture. It was sorta cute.

Unlike Xander, Doyle or at times Wesley the guy knew how to dress. It was a little funny to think that he likely had just as much hair products as she did. Cordelia had known that he worried about how he looked but seeing his reaction to his reflection in Pylea she knew that he'd likely check himself out more than she did.

Her anger and disappointment in him shocked her to the core with it's strength. Firing them, locking up the lawyers and having sex with Darla had pissed her off more than anything had in recent memory. She had expected better of him--he WAS better than that. Lying about it had been an insult that she had refused to ignore as she had looked on the pregnant Darla. It made her recall a different Angel that had been there for her once when she had been forced with demon spawn. They might not have been dating but damn it felt like being back stabbed again. Just because Angel had to go male on her.

Forgiveness wasn't hard to give with him once she cooled down. Maybe it was all meant to happen like that as it had given him a son. Angel had become more human before her eyes over the years and part of that was messing up. He needed her and she wouldn't abandon him.

Groo was slow on the uptake yet she didn't fall for him. Attracted? Yeah, who wouldn't be? Still he wasn't the one she wanted, she knew that in the end but like always in her love life it was too late to do any good. All she had left to give Angel was one last day, one vision and what he had given her: hope. They both knew how they felt, he had finally figured that out at least. Perhaps someday he'd finally wise up and realize that he was worth saving. Why did she have to fall for the dumb ones?


End file.
